Improvement in hydrants or stand-pipes



J. H. GREATHEAD & M. D. MARTINDA-LE. Hydramt` or Stand Pipe.

No. 215,603. f Patented May 20,1879.

Ig. Fig.' 2.

N. PETERS,'PNnTo-LIYHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D C.

UNITEDSTATEs PATENT OFFICE.

JAMEs EJGEEATHEAD, or vvEsTMINsTEE, co'UNTY 0E MiDDLEsEx, AND MoNTAeU DMAETINDALE, oEANEELY, coUNTY or sUEnEY, ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN HYDRANTS OR STAND-PIPES.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 215,603, dated MayEZO, 1879; application filed April 8, 1879; patented in England, November 2l, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that we, JAMES HENRY GREAT- HEAD, of Westminster, in the county of Middlesex, England, land MONTAGE DURANCE MARTINDALE,of Anerly, in the county of Surrey, England, have invented an Improvement in Hydrants or Stand-Pipes; and do hereby declare that the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, hereinafter referred to, forms a full and exact specification ofthe same, wherein we have set forth the nature and principles of our said improvement, by which our invention may be distinguished from others of a similar class, together With such parts as we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent-that is to say;

In cases Where towns or districts are supplied with water at a 10W pressure, it is necessary to rely almost entirely on the use of nre-engines when jets at high pressure are required for the extinction of lires and like purposes.

The object of our invention is to provide in such cases means of obtaining the advantages of' a high-pressure supply without employing fire-engines, and without establishing a general high-pressure service on an extensive scale, or interfering with the existing lowpressure supply.

We effect this by applying in hydrants or stand-pipes supplied -from mains with Water at low or moderate pressure the principle known as the lateral action of fluids, which is applied in the injector-that is to say, a stream of fluid passing at considerable velocity through iiuid which is quiescent or moving slowly imparts thereto a `portion of its velocity, thus" producing a stream of larger volume, though of less velocity, than the ori ginal rapid stream.

The construction of hydrants or stand-pipes for use in this manner is shown in the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 represents a vertical section of a hydrant according to our invention.

Ais the branch from the main pipe, supplying water at moderate pressure, its quantity being determined by a sluice or other suitable valve governing the passage to the pipe A in the usual way. B is a branch from a pipe of comparatively small size, supplied with water at high pressure. The supply by the branch B is also governed by sluice or other valve.

The brauch B, bending upward, terminates in a nozzle, b, directed into the ascending limb ofthe hydrant, and beyond this nozzle may be txed one or more trumpet-mouthed guidetubes, C, as shown in Fig. 1, for the` purpose of obtaining several successive impulses from the central stream.

The ordinary hose or pipe being screwed onto the hydrant at D, the apparatus. is worked in thefollowing manner: Water atthelowpressure is admitted by the branch A to till the hydrant. Water at the high pressure is then admitted by the branch B, and the stream of this Water, issuing at high velocity by the nozzle b, imparts a portion of its velocity to the low-pressure water supplied by A, thereby producin g in the hose a pressure greater than that of the low-pressure supply, and less than that of the high-pressure supply.

By properly proportioning the volumes of low and high pressure water, an intermediate pressure can be obtained sufcient to command a jet of considerable height, such as is usually required for fire-extinction. Thus, by the expenditure of a comparatively small quantity of very high-pressure water, conveyed by pipes of small dimensions, jets oli' large volume are obtained from the ordinary low-pressure supply, .Without subjecting th e lo vvv-pressure pipes to such pressure as would be required to command the jets, and without interi'erin g with the ordinary uses of those pipes.

Fig. 2 represents a vertical section of a stand-pipe similarly tted witha high-press- 'ure in the discharge-pipe D by the arrange ment shown at Fig. 2a. A small cylinder, E, is made to communicate, by a passage, c, With the discharge-pipe D. The cylinder is tted with a piston, F, pressed on by a spring, the force ofWhich can be adjusted by a screw-nut, f. The piston-rod is linked to one arm of a lever, G, to the opposite arm of which is linked the cone-valve fitting the nozzle b. When the pressure in D is sufficient to move the piston F in opposition to the spring, the passage through'the nozzle b is more or less throttled by the advanceoil the cone Within it; and the high-pressure stream being thus reduced in volume7 the pressure in I) resulting from its action is likewise reduced.

A flexible diaphragm may obviously be substituted for the piston F.

Fig. 3 represents a longitudinal section of a similar jet arrangement according to our invention, applicable to tire-engines. lt consists of a hydrant-pipe having a branch, A, connected by hose or otherwise to aloW-pressure pipe, or to any neighboring supply of Water at low pressure. The branch B is connected to the discharge ofthe tire-en gine pum ps, and a hose is screwed onto the mouth of the pipe at D.

The high-pressure discharge of the fire-engine giving motion to the low-pressure supply creates in the hose an intermediate pressure, as already described, and thus pumps discharging a comparatively small volume of Water at a very high pressure are made available for producing jet-s of larger volume at lower pressure.

Having thus described the nature of our iuvention, and the best means We know of carrying it into practical operation, We claim- The combination of a branch pipe and nozzle supplied from a high-pressure pipe With the hydrant or stand-pipe of a low-pressure main, substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

ln testimony whereof We have signed our names to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses, this 15th day of March, 1879.

J. H. GREATHEAD. MONTAGU D. MARTINDALE. 

